From Yeoksam to Jongsam, Citius, Altius, Infirmius

In case you were out of this shapeshifting town over the past few months, a few bits to catch up. The usual mixed bag about urbanism and business, art and culture, life and death..

The good news is that the city has taken seriously the issue of nightlife economy. For those of you who used to know Seoul before the 2018 labor reforms* and struggle to explain to newbies how restaurants took orders after 9 pm and all neighborhoods were alive after 10 pm, help could be on the way. 

The approach is holistic with a transversal pilot across 7 administrations: the Planning and Administration Office, the Economic Office, the Culture Headquarters, the City Transportation Office, the Public Relations Bureau, the Tourism and Sports Bureau, and the Citizens’ Livelihood and Labor Bureau  Regulatory reforms and incentive shall boost 'Night Economy Coexistence Zones' (e.g. around the DDP, Hangang riverside, Namsan), and 25 'Seoul Moonlight Yajang' spots shall enjoy late hour cultural and public transportation. I don't know if the policies are optimal, but I like the intention to help Seoul get some of its mojo back.

Likewise, I'm all for a more balanced urbanism, where people can live, work, and play without long commutes, and on paper, that's what the 'Lifestyle Hub Revitalization Strategy' pledges to do so by allowing mixed-use urban development with - even better - a focus on non-Gangnam areas (e,g. 70 'lifestyle hubs' by 2030 starting with Chang-dong, Seongnae-dong, Junggok-dong to the East, Doksan-dong to the West). Over the past 5 years, Seoul has revitalized 92 station areas, adding over 6.6k public rental housing units, 16k units for young adults and newlyweds. The idea is to further boost affordable jeonse, extend to all 325 stations, and to stimulate activity along key connecting axes (Growth Potential Zone Revitalization Project). But Seoul pushes particularly hard, extending the radius from 250 to 350m around stations (500m for transfer stations), and unleashing verticality (35-floor limit abolished, FAR up to 1300% in areas like Yeoksam-dong or Jayang-dong). 

Seoul's new tripod

I can't help but think of these 1990s-2000s 'new town' ads featuring supersized 'apateu' blocks and gigantic subway station totems towering over undersized cityscapes. Again, this is not a zero sum game, Korea's population is not exactly booming. Besides, supertall towers actually disconnect inhabitants from their neighborhoods. This is potent medicine, and not necessarily good medicine, so drink responsibly.

At least OH Se-hoon is not pushing for claiming bits of Seoul's evershrinking greenbelt or even Yongsan Park for new housing projects (LEE Jae-myung playing it LEE Myung-bak-style on that one).

Left and right, Korea remains addicted to 'budongsan', obsessed with obsolete visions of urbanism born from postwar urgency. BTW fun to roam that Seoul Museum of History expo about 60 years of urban planning:

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At least some old Seoul villages survive and even thrive. TimeOut  even decided that Jongno-3-ga was the coolest neighborhood in the world:

TimeOut crowning Jongno-3-ga

But of course this place is just the disneyfied shell of  'Jongsam' s old self. Yes, outdoor barbecues feel almost like the good old times, yes, some Ikeson dong hanok survived, but no one actually lives in them anymore, and tourists can't experience the real thing.

'#TimeOut dubs #Jongno3ga the world's coolest neighborhood. #Ikseondong disneylandization paid off. Significantly one of the last spots where #Seoul nightlife survived 2018 labor-reforms.' (@theseoulvillage - 20260917) 

Jongno remains a most special place. And between October 1 and 14, just hectometers from Jongno-3-ga, don't forget to pass by KOTE for Nuances' 'Archaeology of the Present'' exhibition featuring 15 artists (Célia BRISOT, Elodie CATHERINE, Zoé CONSTANS, Salomé DUBOIS-HAN, Kämy DOBI, Tim FRANCO, Sébastien SIMON, Alaric HAMACHER, Stéphane MOT, Romain TENOT, Emmanuel L. M. WOLFS, Jung Ran KIM, Pascal BELMAS, Nils BOUVYER, L’ATELIER PIEPRZOV). ICYMI the occasion to see my 'spacetime capsule' or Tim Franco's tribute to Bogwang-dong. 

Seoul Village 2026
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* reminder: the measures, theoretically meant to help the little guy, were so radical and sped up that the opposite happened and hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared even before COVID hit the fan. 

SeMA's saemaeuldeul

SeMA's latest branch was inaugurated on March 12 in Siheung-dong, Geumcheon-gu. Between an elementary school, big apateu blocks, the huge district office and its namesake subway station, this long, low rise structure designed by KIM Chan-joong sits in a small park and dons a headband reflecting light like a screen, probably an echo to its dedication to new media art.

The new ship is docked to its neighborhood through an anchor outdoor installation (Yaloo's Shininho Landing), and an inaugural exhibition ('Mneme topos') honoring its own construction. Nothing revolutionary or pretentious; visitors are even entertained with fun signage from the parking lot to various outdoor spots. The idea seems to make families and newbies comfortable, contemporary art accessible to everyone. 

Seo-Seoul Museum of Art fills a cultural gap in southwest Seoul, and somehow combines Siheung-dong's nature dimension with Doksan-dong's industrial culture. Going to Geumnarae Central Park with the kids or to the district office for some administrative stuff? You can seize the opportunity and take a short cultural break. 

#SeoSeoulMuseumofArt in #Geumcheongu, #Seoul.#culture #architecture pic.twitter.com/DsmrQsiSbu

— Seoul Village 🇺🇦 (@theseoulvillage) April 24, 2026

Previously, SeMA only had one site south of the Hangang, in Gwanak-gu: the Nam-Seoul Museum of Art inaugurated in September 2004 in the former Belgian Consulate building relocated to Namhyeon-dong 21 years earlier.

Before Seo-Seoul, SeMA's last inauguration (in May 2025) was at the diagonal opposite in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu. A sliced dark cube - or should I say a camera obscura? - The Photography Seoul Museum of Art is a more daunting beast, with an edgier inaugural program featuring familiar names, but also experimental artists I'd never knew graced the Park Chung-hee era.

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As it opens, step by step, new Seoul villages to art, SeMA welcomes as always visitors for free. In case you missed any, here are the other venues:

• Seosomun Main Building: SeMA's Main Branch is located in Seosomun-dong, Jung-gu, in the original Supreme Court (built in 1928). Inaugurated in 1988, it moved in 2002 from Sinmunno-2-ga, Jongno-gu, within Gyeonghuigung grounds (now the site of the Seoul Museum of History).
  
  
• Buk-Seoul Museum of Art: inaugurated in September 2013 in Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu, SeMA's second biggest branch filled a regional void and often proposes interesting exhibitions
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Also:
• Archives, Seoul Museum of Art (inaugurated in April 2023 on the main axis of Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu).
•  SeMA Storage (inaugurated in 2016 in the former Innovation Park in Nokbeon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu )
• SeMA Bunker (inaugurated in October 2017 under the Yeouido park and former runway - in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu)
• Nanji Residency SeMA  (in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu)
• Paik Ground (formerly Nam Jun Paik memorial house, inaugurated on March 10, 2017 in Changsin-dong, Jeongno-gu)

Seoul Village 2026
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Nine new museums in Seoul by 2023

Last Sunday*, Seoul announced nine new museums for the 3 years to come, after inaugurating five others over the past three years. As this map shows, downtown's dominance in cultural sites shall grow even stronger, but a few underserved neighborhoods will get their fair share:

The 5 museums inaugurated between 2017 and 2019 (NB this list doesn't count infrastructures that are not managed by the city, like the Seoul HOUR opened last year**:

• 2017: PAIK Nam June Memorial Museum (Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu)
  
• 2018: Donuimun Museum Village (Sinmunno 2-ga, Jongno-gu)
• 2018: Iumpium Sewing History Museum (Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu)
• 2019: Seoul Urban Life Museum (Gongneung-dong, Nowon-gu)
• 2019: Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music (Waryong-dong, Jongno-gu)

The 9 museums to be inaugurated by 2023:

• 2020: Seoul Craft Museum (Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu): on the site of the former Pungmun Girls' High School. BTW ICYMI Korean Air is suing Seoul Metropolitan Government for torpedoing their plan to sell their Songheyon-dong site (see "twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/1272327309865828353")
   
• 2021: Hanyangdoseong Ruins Exhibition Hall / Hanyang City Wall Relics (Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu). To replace the Seoul City Wall Museum located in Jongno-6-ga. Of course, 'Hanyang' is more relevant as the original name of Seoul intra muros (within Sadaemun).
   
• 2021: Pyeongchang-dong Art and Culture Complex (Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu): a hub for Pyeongchang-dong's Community Art Platform, on Pyeongchangdongmunhwa-ro, with a focus on contemporary art of course.  
• 2022: Korean Food Culture Complex (Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu) on a redesigned and partly repurposed Samcheonggak.
   
• 2023: Seoul Cultural Resource Center / Integrated Storage (Dugok-ri, Ucheon-myeon, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do): over 44,600 square meters... which speaks volumes about the capital's overflowing cultural assets (350,000 of them shall be stored there).  
• 2023: Robot Science Museum (Chang-dong, Dobong-gu): beyond robots, shall explore A.I., V.R., and other technologies. At last some content for the Chang-dong - Sanggye urban regeneration cluster (see "Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)")... but this Seoul village will also host the best new museum to come (see below).
   
• 2023: Pungnap-dong Earthen Fortification Museum (Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu): 5,500 square meters focused on the old Baekjae castle, and the royal way of life.
   
  
• 2023: Seo-Seoul Museum of Art (Doksan-dong, Geumcheon-gu): not to be confused with SeMA's main site in Seosomun-dong, this branch will reach yet another underserved district after Nam-Seoul (Namhyeon-dong, Gwanak-gu), Buk-Seoul (Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu), or SeMA Storage (Seoul Innovation Park, Nokbeon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu). SeMA also manages the above mentioned Paik Nam June Memorial Museum in Jongno-gu, SeMA Bunker (Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu) SeMA Nanji Residency (Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu).
   
  
• 2023: Seoul Photographic Art Museum (also in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu): not to be confused with the existing private museum of photography in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu. 2,500 sqm is not very big, but I really hope this will be the museum I've been calling for for years: devoting big sections to my beloved KIM Ki-chan and to the fantastic collections inherited by the Seoul Museum of History, interactive, involving citizen contributions...

Melike Altinisik Architects' winning project for Robot Science Museum

As you can see, quantity doesn't always mean quality, but I'm looking forward to returning to neighborhoods I haven't roamed in a while... and I really can't wait to see that last one. Please, don't disappoint me!

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* see "사진·한식·로봇…서울시 '테마형 뮤지엄' 9개소 개관" (Seoul Metropolitan Government 20200622)
** see "Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture, Seoul Biennale 2019 Symposium"

Burying Seobu Expressway (not all car traffic, though)

Seoul eventually confirmed the completion of the transformation of the 10.33 km section of the Seobu Expressway into a 4-lane underground tunnel by 2019, between Seongsan Bridge (Yangpyeong-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu) and Geumcheon I.C. (Doksan-dong, Guro-gu)*. 

A standard road will double it at ground level, to - hopefully - take care of the local traffic, and to propose a more pleasant experience for residents and visitors: Anyangcheon will at long last be accessible through simple pedestrian crossings (from the Seoul side, Gwangmyeong residents being connected to the eastern side by footbridges), and new parks will be created, including a big one if Seoul manages to move that big, ugly garbage treatment unit. 

Overall, a greener look and feel (particularly with with these before-after pictures comparing winter and summer views!):

This clearly marks an improvement of the cityscape and quality of life in this part of the city, but not a disruption from the car-centric view. And don't expect to totally get rid of traffic noise: "vertical soundproof walls, currently installed between the Seobu Expressway and Gyeongbu Railroad Line, will be replaced with twice the amount of folded soundproof walls to reduce noise levels".

It may look a bit like Yangjaecheon, but a big part of this stretch is occupied by the Guro Digital Complex, not by mid-rise residences. In any case, good news for the district and for people working there. If sure the landowners in front of one of these crossings will find a better use of their ground levels...

Now if your start-up can't afford a Google-size campus for its staff, you can at least offer them a waterfront experience without the disgracious expressway a la Facebook (see "Zee Talk of Zee Town", "Google's Gtown wins over ZeeTown and the Large Apple Collider").


Seoul Village 2015
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* a Public Private Project on a Build Transfer Operate mode: "Seobu Underground Road To Be Constructed Through Private and Public Joint Agreement".